The Swiss Innovation Park is underway
Switzerland is building a National Innovation Park: the federal and cantonal governments will give the go-ahead for it this year. ETH Zurich is involved, both within the canton of Zurich and at national level.
The Swiss Innovation Park is really beginning to take shape: the idea is to create a nationwide network for research and development, linking various different locations together. The federal and cantonal governments have already agreed on this approach. Under the overall title of the “external pageNational Innovation Park”, they want to set up a series of regional innovation parks called network locations. There are also to be two “hub locations” associated with ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne, which will serve as the network’s interfaces with the rest of the world.
This was decided in June 2013 by the cantonal Directors of Economic Affairs who are responsible for developing the concept and selecting the locations. In November 2013, they launched the selection process. By summer 2014, the cantons hope to have decided which locations, in addition to Zurich and Lausanne, they will be proposing for inclusion in the network.
After that, the ball is in the federal government’s court: the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), under whose control ETH Zurich also comes, will decide on the locations and lay out in a Dispatch how the National Innovation Park will be operated and what support the federal government is able to give to the various locations. If everything goes smoothly, the Federal Council will submit this Dispatch to Parliament by the end of 2014 so that a decision can be made by the middle of 2015.
Independent places for knowledge-sharing
This network-based approach is a reflection of the federal and cantonal governments’ strategy for positioning Switzerland as an appealing location in the global competition to attract innovative research and development. They are also aiming to fill a gap in Switzerland’s innovation landscape.
“An innovation park is a place where researchers from universities, universities of applied sciences and industry can share their knowledge,” explains ETH Zurich Vice President Roman Boutellier. “In the interests of independent university research, it is also an advantage if the sharing with industry research departments takes place nearby but in a distinctly separate location.”
This means that an innovation park is seen as a neutral “contact area”, where established companies work together with researchers, mainly doctoral and postdoctoral scientists, from universities. This distinguishes it from start-up centres and technology parks, which primarily support newly established companies. An innovation park can also be set up around technology platforms which companies or universities alone are unable to afford or use to the full.
Two hubs based at ETH Zurich and EPFL
The various innovation parks will have to be able to function independently of one another. There is to be a national supporting institution such as a foundation that will be responsible for quality control and international marketing of the National Innovation Park. Otherwise, all the innovation parks will be organised and financed by regional operating companies.
As for the quality of the locations, the hubs and the locations in the network will all have to meet the same standards in terms of finance, infrastructure, size and research competence. The hub sites will have an international focus. Their range of research and development will also be broader and cover the whole innovation chain from the initial idea to the finished product.
“Innovation parks primarily support innovations based on scientific and technical principles. That is one of the main reasons for choosing Zurich and Lausanne as the hub locations,” says Roman Boutellier. Both these regions are home to companies with global connections, and, in the shape of ETH Zurich and EPFL, to the driving forces behind scientific and technical research in Switzerland.
ETH Zurich – a partner in location development
ETH Zurich is actively involved as a partner in location development for the project: Roman Boutellier is representing ETH Zurich both at national level and in the canton of Zurich on the relevant planning and coordination committees.
Over the next six months, the canton of Zurich will have to work out an operating concept for the Zurich innovation hub and obtain the necessary planning permission. In order for the innovation park to be built, a new public building zone will have to be entered in the cantonal structure plan. The aim is still for the former military airfield to become the location for the Zurich hub. The structure plan is currently being revised.
This article by Florian Meyer first appeared in the Intranet of ETH Zurich on January 8th 2014.